Category: Work

As an advocate for open source, the open web, and privacy, my choice of browser is a critical part of my work. Some thoughts:

Firefox

The only true open source browser. If I have a problem, I can file a bug on Bugzilla, and submit a patch to fix it. More importantly, if I’m ever curious about how the browser works under the hood, I can check the source.

For me, this makes Firefox an extremely persuasive option, and is the reason I try it out from time to time. Sadly, I’ve not yet been able to stick with it, and here’s why:

Safari

I am in the Mac / iOS ecosystem, and although Safari may lack in some features, it makes up for it in others:

For these reasons, Safari has been my primary browser for many years now.

Chrome

Due to privacy concerns with Google’s ad-based business model, I try not to use any Google services. When I do (YouTube), I make sure to block all cookies and browser storage for those domains (which I can do with 1Blocker).

Chrome’s deep Google integration makes it a non-starter for me. Most of Chrome’s benefit’s can be summed up as “better integration with Google products”, which doesn’t help me at all.

I don’t have a personal Google account, but I do need one for work. For those times, I have my default browser set to:

Choosy

My system default browser is set to Choosy – a System Preferences extension that smartly handles which browser to open depending on the URL.

I use Choosy to set up rules for the services that either require my work’s Google account, or simply don’t work well in Safari. This way, when a colleague drops me a Google Doc link to review, it automatically opens Google Chrome, which is signed into my work Google account.

This way, the vast majority of my web browsing happens without being logged into Google. Since 1Blocker is also blocking Google’s cookies and analytics, my browsing activity gets to remain private.

TL;DR

Although supporting an open source browser would be my ideal, my daily driver is Safari, due to its native integrations with Mac and iOS. I also use Choosy for the times when I need to be signed into my Google account (in which case I use Chrome, sparingly).

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Inspired by Seth Godin, I recently attempted a daily writing project. I committed to write one blog post every day, indefinitely.

Here are my reflections.

Writing takes time. Not the actual typing – that part is easy. But finding inspiration everyday is a serious commitment. It can take hours, and it can't be forced.

Sometimes opening yourself up to inspiration means sitting in a café reading a magazine, or going for a stroll through the park, or reading a book. Let's be real: I have a family and a job, I don't have time to wistfully wait in the bath for my eureka! moment every single day.

After a few months, I gave up. And when I gave up… I really gave up. I didn't write again until… well, now.

I've realised that, at least for me (and maybe for you, too?), trying to force a daily routine isn't the best way of falling in love with a habit or practice. I advocate for a different approach. Let's call it…

No Pressure Weekday Habits

I'll illustrate this habit-building technique with an example: Meditation. I love meditation, but I haven't always. At first, I only loved the idea of meditation, the practice took some getting used to.

All the books I read told me that it was vital that I meditate every single day for the first 3 months (a common trope among daily habit pushers). Other books told me to start with just 5 minutes a day (or write only 1–2 sentences, or run for only 1km).

That wasn't working. So instead, I decided to commit to the following:

Meditate for at least 30 minutes, but only on weekdays, and only if I feel like it.

In the end, I found that my intuition here worked wonderfully. It was the pressure of not missing a day which caused me to give up. It was the triviality of "small habits", that caused me to give it away. Now, I often happily meditate for 20—30 minutes, and I do so most days.

So, back to writing.

After a few days of writing every day, I started feeling stressed, worried, and overworked. Worse – the short posts were often uninspired or forced. That's not the sort of writer I want to be.

Instead, I'll be the writer who taps out a decent chunk of valuable content every single day.

A startup malaise is all too common. There are ridiculous amounts of stress and work involved with starting a new business, and “leaving a dent in the universe” (a common Silicon Valley mantra). Cases of panic, anxiety, and burnout are frequent and often go undiagnosed.